This study sets out to explore and describe the life experience of spirituality within the context of daily life. What is that through daily interaction of their lives, persons interviewed as part of this research experienced as a sense of meaning and wholeness, and which these persons identify and value as contributing to their sense of living spiritually? Thus daily life informed by these kinds of so-called spiritual engagements and practices may provide a way of discovering or recovering the sacred in ordinary situations and activities of their lives. Such engagements and practices may help to strengthen a consciousness that nurtures a spirituality of human development. / Spirtuality in this sense refers to the practices and learning through which individuals and societies attempt to move beyond self-centred positions of power and control, to share experiences that articulate care of the self, and of seeking meaning, wisdom, virtue, joy and harmony in, and with life. To explore the significant human experience of spirituality in daily life, the heuristic methodology developed by Clark Moustakas (1990) was employed. This approach utilizes the concepts and processes of identifying with the focus of the inquiry, self dialogue, tacit knowing, intuition, indwelling, focusing, and the internal frame of reference. The six phases of heuristic research are initial engagement, immersion, incubation, illumination, explication, and creative synthesis. Seventeen participants (co-researchers) were selected from a small group of Western Australian volunteers who claimed to have experienced the topic of investigation. They were interviewed informally and conversationally with the open- ended question, “Describe as fully as possible as possible your experience of spirituality in daily life”. These interviews were analysed, yielding eleven extended descriptions of the experience, three of which make up the individual depictions, a composite depiction of the experience, two exemplary portraits of the experience, and a creative synthesis of the experience. / Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2004.
Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/267636 |
Creators | Conlan, Meath Douglas |
Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
Language | English |
Detected Language | English |
Rights | copyright under review |
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